House Passes Bill on PLO Moves

The House of Representatives voted 396-6 on Tuesday to bar American payments to the United Nations if the Palestine Liberation Organization is admitted to the world body or any of its agencies.

The measure must now pass the Senate.

It apparently has the backing of the Bush administration, which served notice earlier this month that it would withhold its $73.9 million contribution to the World Health Organization’s fiscal 1990 budget if the PLO’s bid for full membership succeeded.

It was largely because of the American warning that the 166-nation World Health Assembly, the governing body of the WHO, voted 83-47 in Geneva last Friday to defer the PLO’s request for one year.

But the issue may be raised this week at a meeting of the governing board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, one of several other specialized U.N. agencies the PLO is seeking to join.